Knowledgeable Tampa Trust Lawyers

Clearwater Estate Planning Lawyers Providing Personal Attention

Estate planning is about more than just drafting a will. There are many advantages to be had from creating a trust and appointing a reliable trustee to administer it. At The Yates Law Firm, P.A., a majority of our clients decide that a trust is the right option for them.

Our experienced Tampa trust attorneys, assisted by our knowledgeable staff, work closely with clients to help them determine how they can use trusts to accomplish their estate planning goals. We provide individualized attention to each client's specific needs.

Understanding the Reasons for Creating a Trust

A trust is a legal entity that takes title to all or some of your assets and is administered by a trustee. You can appoint yourself or someone else as the trustee. If you appoint yourself, you can also appoint a successor trustee to take charge in the event of your death or incapacity.

Trusts have many different uses in estate planning and must be carefully drafted in order to reflect the exact intentions of the person creating the trust. The following are some of the major advantages of trusts over
wills and other estate planning options:

Avoid or simplify probate: A trust can be used to distribute your assets promptly upon your death, outside of the
probate process, which typically takes several months. Probate avoidance is not just for the very wealthy. If you have a home, a life insurance policy, a retirement account or any other significant assets, you may benefit from placing them in a trust.

Protect your children: If your children are faced with the death of both of their parents, a trust can ensure that their guardians have immediate access to much-needed funds and that your children will not automatically inherit all of your remaining assets — without any restrictions on how they can be spent — at the age of 18.

Avoid guardianship: If you become mentally or physically incapacitated, your spouse or another family member may need to pursue an expensive, court-supervised
guardianship in order to care for you and gain access to your assets. A trust can avoid guardianship by giving the trustee authority to act on your behalf if you become incapacitated.

To learn more about your Florida estate planning options, please call us at 813-463-8744 or 888-450-2930 or
e-mail us to arrange a consultation.

Practice Areas

We assist clients with estate planning by preparing wills and trusts with the goal of establishing an orderly plan for the distribution of assets - during the client’s life and following the client’s death - according to the client’s wishes.